Manchester United continue to chase new signings and finding another striker to support Rasmus Hojlund in the final third is an absolute priority.
Erik ten Hag wanted a new striker last summer and Manchester United went down an interesting route.
In came Rasmus Hojlund as the Dane joined his boyhood club in a big-money move from Atalanta, less than a year after arriving from Sturm Graz.
Hojlund was making an enormous leap with his move to Old Trafford but showed some promise in his debut season, hitting 16 goals in all competitions.
Anthony Martial’s injury woes left Hojlund as United’s only recognised striker for much of the season and that simply can’t happen again next term.
Martial is leaving the club this summer and United simply must bring in another striker to help Hojlund – and a number of targets are on the radar.
Manchester United still in Joshua Zirkzee race
United may sign another young striker to go along with Hojlund in the hope of developing two top centre forwards for the future.
RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko is a major target in that regard with the Slovenia hitman allegedly weighing up an approach from United.
There are other targets on the radar though with Bologna hitman Joshua Zirkzee believed to be one of them.
The Dutchman enjoyed a strong season with 11 goals and four assists in 34 Serie A appearances, helping Bologna qualify for the Champions League.
United have been linked with Zirkzee for a while now and speculation from Italy suggests that he is being viewed as a replacement for Martial.
Sky Sports now claim that United are stall in the mix for Zirkzee and aren’t giving up despite talks with AC Milan.
The Serie A side have opened negotiations to sign Zirkzee but haven’t been able to close a deal yet.
Zirkzee can leave thanks to a £34million release clause but he hasn’t committed to a San Siro move as things stand.
That means United ‘remain interested’ in signing Zirkzee and aren’t backing away, just like Arsenal.
Beware Bayern Munich
Praised as ‘exceptional’ by Roberto Baggio, Zirkzee is understandably attracting major interest.
A tall and physical forward with impressive technique and the ability to drop deep to get on the ball, Zirkzee has even been likened to Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
United would no doubt love to bring in Zirkzee to compete with Hojlund but Arsenal and AC Milan aren’t the only clubs to worry about in this race.
Bayern Munich have a buy-back clause on Zirkzee – and it is worth just £17million, half the price that everybody else has to pay.
Another layer here is that Bayern have appointed Vincent Kompany as their new manager and he coached Zirkzee at Anderlecht.
Kompany is thought to be interested in signing Zirkzee as competition for Harry Kane, leaving United to potentially miss out.
This race is crowded but United are sticking around, hoping to convince Zirkzee into a move to Old Trafford; but actually figuring out the managerial situation may be a good start, showing him the kind of project Ineos have in mind moving forward.